Sons of Concerto spring barley could become RL candidates

Four new spring barley varieties bred from the dual-purpose spring malting barley Concerto could become candidates for next year’s Recommended List trials.

The “Sons of Concerto” were all non-GN (glycosidic nitrile) producers which combined the quality of Concerto with the disease resistance of Quench, said Mr Robinson.

In two years of National List trialling, the new varieties yielded 3-4% more than Concerto, the first major variety since Optic to have a dual usage for both brewing and malt distilling, he added.

“It looks as if at least three of them will become genuine contenders for recommendation on the HGCA spring barley list in 2012/13,” said Mr Robinson.

Concerto was only added to the Recommended List in 2009 and it gained its full approval for malt distilling and brewing in June.

The new varieties are an example of the way breeders has been able to speed up the process of breeding with the assistance of biotechnology, he added.